We are Generocksity.

Generocksity is a completely student-run non-profit organization* dedicated to educating young adults on the importance of philanthropy and how easily it can be integrated into their daily lives to help develop life-long habits of effective giving. According to Stats Canada (2013), young adults aged 20-24 make up the least philanthropic population in Canada and are the least likely to donate their time or money in any amount. We believe this is an issue of poor education rather than poor intentions and that given the proper motivation and precise tools to take initiative, our generation can become leaders and innovators in effective philanthropy.

To help young adults become more engaged in philanthropic endeavours and develop lifetime habits of giving, Generocksity has developed a 5 pronged approach.

1. Good Times (Charity Events): We organize large scale entertainment events including concerts, parties and comedy nights, with 100% of proceeds benefiting local charities, while always supporting local artists, musicians and comedians.

2. Good Deeds Volunteering Trips: An opportunity for young adults to come out on trips to help others in their community such as serving food at a soup kitchen, or doing arts and crafts with patients at a children’s hospital. During our Good Deeds, young adults are able to do good while learning about different local charities and the marginalized populations they support.

3. Educational Workshops: We organize workshops where young adults are given the motivation and specific tools to achieve their own philanthropic goals. Each workshop features inspirational and informative talks from a wide array of successful social entrepreneurs, academics and leaders in the field of philanthropy.

4. Consulting: We offer free social enterprise and fundraising consultations and mentorships, where we help young adults and student clubs organize successful fundraisers and grow their own organizations.

5. Philanthropy Database: We have created a new philanthropic database which will contain charities, non-profits, social enterprises, clubs and initiatives at our schools, and university courses all of which align with our new 8 Education Goals. We envision this as being the philanthropic one-stop shop for students and alike. With our database, we hope to provide our users with multiple ways of giving back including monetary, through volunteering, campus and city-wide involvement, as well as suggesting courses offered at UBC that will educate students on these topics.

*Generocksity is incorporated under the Canada Not-For-Profit Corporations Act

Generocksity began as nothing more than a nice idea for a friend in need. In May 2013, while volunteering at Canuck Place Children’s Hospice in Vancouver, Zeke Blumenkrans befriended a new patient at the hospice named David. Due to strong similarities in music taste, humour and board game competitiveness, Zeke and David soon became friends. David had recently been diagnosed with life-threatening cancer and knew that in his new reality, every day counted. One day as Zeke and David discussed their bucket lists, David mentioned the amazing impact Canuck Place had had on his life and how as part of his bucket list he would love to one day organize a charity concert for the hospice. Given David’s exceptional voice, unique eloquence and huge heart, Zeke was convinced that this event would be a big hit but David would need some help.

Zeke was incredibly moved by David’s selflessness and desire to help others at a time when his days were numbered. Zeke decided that to help David cross this item off his bucket list, he would organize a team to initiate and lay the groundwork for what would become David’s charity concert. After successfully recruiting four of his most talented, compassionate and hardworking friends/classmates, Ori Nevares, Vivian Braithwaite, Rachel Warner and Bavenjit Kaur, the new team got to work. The idea was for the team to solidify all the boring administrative tasks associated with the fundraiser (i.e. finding a venue, sponsors, etc.) and then present this shell of an event to David where he would then be able to lead our team to creating the charity concert he envisioned from his bucket list.

As pieces for the event began to fall into place and the team almost ready to present the fundraiser framework to David, tragedy hit. David’s cancer had become increasingly aggressive and in the summer of 2013, he passed away. At the time, Zeke was volunteering as an EMR on an Israeli Red Cross ambulance in Jerusalem. He decided to take time off work to mourn and reflect. Three days later, Zeke returned to work and decided that after his night shift he would notify his team about his decision to cancel the charity concert. The whole purpose of the fundraiser was to help David cross this item off his bucket list, with David gone Zeke no longer felt a purpose for the event.

At 3am during his night shift, Zeke and his paramedic colleague responded to a call from a woman that was 6 months pregnant. Surrounded by a pool of what appeared to be her own blood, the woman was rushed into the ambulance as the paramedic sped towards the hospital. The woman would eventually give birth on the ambulance to a severely premature baby boy. Unable to initially breath, Zeke and his colleague were forced to perform immediate CPR on the newborn. After what appeared to be an eternity of ventilations and compressions, the baby was resuscitated and began to breath by himself.

Both physically and emotionally exhausted, Zeke concluded that witnessing the miraculous resuscitation of a newborn only a few days after his friend’s life had been cut short, was more than just a mere coincidence. Zeke concluded that the charity concert would have to go on and that him and his team would put even more love and energy into the fundraiser in honour of David.

On November 28, 2013, the five friends hosted a concert at Vancouver Fan Club benefiting Canuck Place in honor of David. During the charity concert, Zeke spoke about David, his bucket list, the type of person that he was and how he was the eternal inspiration for the event.

After the fundraiser, Zeke and his team began to receive many encouraging messages from young adults that had attended the event with most messages expressing a similar theme: We like the idea of raising funds for local charities while supporting local musicians in a party setting that is accessible to our busy schedules and thin wallets. The plan had always been for this charity concert to be a one-off, however, after this feedback, the five friends began to realize that through their events they could begin to fill a void in philanthropic culture and improve how young adults interact with philanthropic endeavors.

Re-energized with a new vision but still with the same source of inspiration, Zeke would recruit the new non-profit’s final co-founder Maya Zwang and become what is known as Generocksity, a multinational non profit with over 100 active volunteers. Our teams have engaged over 12,000 young adults in 9 cities in three countries. We have also raised over $120,000 for more than 25 charities.